Norwegian Fringes

The animation, which is based on an interferogram generated with two radar images captured by Sentinel-1A in ‘Interferometric Wide-Swath’ mode on 11 and 23 August 2014, mainly shows topography around the northern coast of Norway. Although Sentinel-1A is still being commissioned, this new result demonstrates how useful it will be to map the shape of the land and monitor ground movement. Synthetic aperture radar interferometry – or InSAR – is a technique where two or more satellite radar images acquired over the same area are combined to map topography and detect surface changes. Small changes on the ground cause changes in the radar signal phase and lead to the rainbow-colored fringes of an ‘interferogram’. In this case, the animation denotes differences in topography.

Since the area around the Lyngen Alps is particularly prone to landslides, it is closely monitored. Large landslides that suddenly shift rock into the sea could potentially create tsunami-like waves. In 1810, such a wave destroyed a village, and, history shows that this kind of natural disaster occurs a couple of times every 100 years in Norway. InSAR is an important tool used by the Norwegian authorities to map rockslide hazards nationwide. The unprecedented coverage offered by the Sentinel-1 mission will significantly increase the value of InSAR data for this purpose.

Video credit: Copernicus data (2014)/ESA/Norut–SEOM Insarap study (video animation data: Norwegian Mapping Authority and NASA)

Note: For more information, see Norway Relief. For similar images, one featuring northwestern Italy and part of Corsica and the other featuring Mount Etna on the island of Sicily, see New Views From Sentinel-1A and Etna Slopes, respectively.

Italy

Astronauts on the International Space Station fly over our planet at around 300 km altitude. From that distance it is not always easy to distinguish countries and cities – political borders cannot be seen from space. This image however clearly shows Italy’s distinctive outline as it contrasts with the blackness of the Mediterranean Sea at night.

The lights to the north of Italy that houses much industry stop more or less at the border with France, Switzerland and Austria. The cities of Turin and Milan show up brightly, as do Rome and Naples further to the south.

The island of Sicily can be seen at the bottom-right of this image with Italy’s other large island, Sardinia, to the left. Above, and almost touching Sardinia, is the island of Corsica that is not part of Italy.

The line of lights following the northern contours of the Mediterranean Sea is the French coastline known as the ‘Côte d’Azur’ or French Riviera.

The thin green line following Earth’s curve is our atmosphere that keeps us warm, protects us from the Sun and cosmic rays as well as the vacuum of space. These images from space show how populated and industrialized Europe is and the enormous impact humans have on our planet.

Photo credit: ESA/NASA

Arcachon Bay and the Dune of Pyla, France

The Arcachon Bay in France’s southwest Aquitaine region is pictured in this image acquired on on 8 September 2009 by Japan’s ALOS observation satellite. At the center of the image, we can see the large Dune of Pyla as an elongated light-brown rectangle. This large, sandy dune is about 2.7 km long, 500 m wide and about 110 m tall. In the upper right portion of the image is Arcachon Bay, home to oyster beds and farms.

ALOS was supported as a Third Party Mission, which means that ESA used its multi-mission ground systems to acquire, process, distribute and archive data from the satellite to its user community. In April 2011 the satellite abruptly lost power while mapping Japan’s tsunami-hit coastline.

This image is featured on the Earth from Space video program.

Photo credit: JAXA, ESA

CERN and Geneva, Switzerland

The CERN Large Hadron Collider is the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator. Built from 1998 to 2008, this year it was the site of the confirmation of the existence of the Higgs Boson, proposed by Peter Higgs in 1964. The accelerator lies in a tunnel 27 km in circumference (shown by the yellow circle), as deep as 175 m beneath the French-Swiss border northwest of Geneva. The image was acquired July 26, 2012, covers an area of 14.2 x 15.4 km, and is located at 46.3 degrees north latitude, 6.2 degrees east longitude.

Photo credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team

Cloudless British Isles

The lush landscapes of Ireland, Great Britain and northern France are pictured in this rare cloud-free view, acquired by Envisat on 28 March 2012.

To the west, thousands of lakes speckle the island of Ireland. Brown rugged cliffs along the coast frame its plush green interior. In the lower-right corner, the river Seine flows through Paris (seen here as a gray area) and snakes toward the English Channel. Following mainland Europe’s coastline north, we can see the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta followed by part of the intertidal Wadden Sea in the extreme top-right corner. The green and tan-tinted swirls in the seas and channels are due to sediments being transported in the water. Sediment is particularly concentrated around Britain’s southeastern coast, carried by the River Thames through London and into the North Sea.

This image is featured on the Earth from Space video program.

Photo credit: ESA

Camargue Delta, France

This image from ALOS shows southern France and the divide of the Rhone River: the 'Grand Rhône' flows down the center of the image while the 'Petit Rhône' is visible to the west. This divide at the French city of Arles forms the Camargue delta region. In the upper right corner of the image, we can see the Alpilles mountains. The green area south of the mountains is a large nature reserve.

This image is a compilation of three radar passes on 14 May 2008, 20 May 2010 and 5 July 2010. Each is assigned a color (red, green or blue) and combined to produce this representation. The colors reveal changes in the surface between the satellite’s passes.

Photo credit: JAXA, ESA

Mont Saint Michel

This image acquired on 3 May 2012 from the Pleiades satellite shows the island of Mont Saint Michel and its surrounding bay in northwest France. Mont Saint Michel was a tidal island, meaning that it was surrounded by water at high tide and only when the waters receded was it reachable by foot. In the late 1800s, the causeway was raised to make it accessible from the mainland at all times. In this image, we can clearly see where the water meets the mud flats, with multiple channels weaving through the mud.

Photo credit: CNES 2012/Astrium Services/Spot Image

Hot Spots in Northern France

This animation shows two images of northern France acquired by two different instruments on the Envisat satellite: MERIS and the Advanced Along-Track Scanning Radiometer.

The first image, acquired on 20 February 2012, shows Paris in the center. The river flowing through the city and into the English Channel is the Seine. East of Paris, vineyards and fields of the famous Champagne-Ardenne region appear lighter in color. The second radiometer image, acquired on 23 May 2011, shows heat, with yellows and reds depicting higher temperatures compared to the cooler blue areas. In this image, urban areas south of Paris – such as Orléans – stand out.

Video credit: ESA; text credit: ESA

Paris to Portugal

European lights seen by André Kuipers from space. Portugal is to the right of the image, and Paris is the glowing light on the left of the image.

Photo credit: ESA/NASA

The Alps

The snow-kissed Alps that stretch across France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Liechtenstein, Austria and Slovenia are captured in this Envisat image, acquired on 16 January 2012. Owing to this snow cover and a relatively low illumination angle of the Sun during this time of year, the ranges and valleys of the mountains stand out in the image.

Just south of the Alps we see the typical winter fog and clouds over the Po Valley. Stretching down the length of the Italian peninsula are the Apennine Mountains. In the lower-right corner, we can see Italy’s Lake Trasimeno. Closer to the Alps is the long Lake Garda. On the opposite side of the Alps from Garda, on the border of Switzerland, Germany and Austria, is Lake Constance. Further north in the upper-left portion of the image we can see Germany’s Black Forest.

Photo credit: ESA